OREANDA-NEWS. July 02, 2010. Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (“MTS” - NYSE: MBT), the leading telecommunications provider in Russia and the CIS, announces that its Board of Directors approved the agreements signed in May by “COMSTAR – United TeleSystems” JSC (“Comstar” - LSE: CMST), a majority-owned subsidiary of MTS, MGTS Finance S.A., a company controlled by Comstar, and OAO Rostelecom (“Rostelecom” - RTS and MICEX: RTKM, RTKMP; OTCQX: ROSYY) involving the sale of the 25%+1 share1 of OAO Svyazinvest to OAO Rostelecom for RUB 26 billion.

The signing of the agreements by Comstar, MGTS Finance S.A. and Rostelecom was announced on May 21, 2010.

As has been announced previously, the closing of the transactions is subject to satisfying of a number of conditions including, inter alia, obtaining the necessary corporate approvals by the parties involved, regulatory clearances, including those from the Federal Antimonopoly Service, and entering into the exchange transaction by AFK Sistema and Svyazinvest after completion of which Svyazinvest will control 100% of the share capital in SkyLink CJSC and AFK Sistema will acquire the 23.33% stake in OAO Moscow City Telephone Network (“MGTS”).

The Comstar group of companies currently owns 25%+1 share of Svyazinvest. Comstar has a 69.93% stake in MGTS. Svyazinvest owns a 23.33% stake in MGTS and a 38% stake in Rostelecom (50.67% of the voting shares).